image of person or book cover 8390470945335051547.jpg
Source: The Australian Woman's Mirror, 3 April, 1928, p. 20
Rosemary Rees (International) assertion Rosemary Rees i(A10697 works by) (a.k.a. Rosemary Frances Rees)
Born: Established: ca. 1876 Auckland, Auckland (Region), North Island,
c
New Zealand,
c
Pacific Region,
; Died: Ceased: 19 Aug 1963 Gisborne, East Cape, North Island,
c
New Zealand,
c
Pacific Region,

Gender: Female
Visitor assertion Arrived in Australia: ca. 1922
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

BiographyHistory

A popular romance novelist, Rosemary Rees received early instruction from her sister, Lily, then attended school in Auckland and enrolled at the university college. Up until 1924 her focus was the theatrical world, and in approximately 1900 she went to London, where she joined the company of comedienne Fanny Brough. She also wrote short stories for London journals, and several one-act plays that were staged as curtain-raisers, including 'Her Dearest Friend' (1910). In late 1919 she returned to New Zealand, and in 1921 formed a theatre company whose members included the young Ngaio Marsh, with the idea of touring the country with one of her own comic plays, 'The Mollusc'. Although critically well-received, the venture was not financially viable, and had to be abandoned after five months.

Rees then went to Sydney to find acting work (ca.1922), but was initially unsuccessful. She decided to write a romantic novel in order to meet her financial needs, and in five weeks produced the draft of April's Sowing, after which she obtained a role with J. C. Williamson's company touring New Zealand. While with the Lawrence Grossmith company in Melbourne six months later she learned that her novel had been accepted by publisher Herbert Jenkins (the first publisher she had approached) and that she was contracted to write three more. After that she wrote at least a novel a year, thirty-one in all. Some were serialised in major English and American papers before appearing as books, several were published in America (under different titles), and there were numerous reprints and translations. Many had New Zealand settings. She also wrote a travel book, New Zealand Holiday (1933), following a return visit there in 1932-1933.

Rees continued to travel during the 1920s and 1930s, acting and writing in Australia (Miller claims that she resided in Sydney during 1937), England and America (where she appeared in an early 'talkie'). During the Second World War Rosemary Rees was a volunteer fire warden in London and worked in a Coventry aircraft factory for a year, and in 1955 she returned to live in New Zealand permanently, where she continued to write up until the year before her death.

Source: Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/

Most Referenced Works

Notes

  • Portrait photograph of Rosemary Rees appears in Bernice May's article on Rees in The Australian Woman's Mirror, 31 July 1928, p. 11.

    Bernice May, who knew Rees personally and corresponded with her while Rees was in London, relates that Rees was not the first writer in her family. Her father, the barrister and Member of Parliament, W. I. Rees, published a novel and a biography of his friend, Sir George Grey.

    Rees's novel, Heather of the South, was serialised in the Sydney Morning Herald at the same time as she was playing the part of Frenchwoman in the play 'Good Morning, Dearie', leading one admirer to comment on her versatility. Two of Rees's novels were published in The Australian Woman's Mirror, Life's What You Make It (1927) and Wild, Wild Heart (1928) and also in the London Evening Standard before appearing in book form.

    In her article May offers favourable critical comment about several of Rees's works and puts forward her opinion that Rees underestimates her talents.

Last amended 13 Feb 2014 10:19:31
Other mentions of "" in AustLit:
    X